Mindfulness has roots in Buddhist tradition, but the principles are not tied to religion. Mindful eating is being present while eating, making food choices, and listening to your body. It incorporates your attention to your body’s cues, awareness of your senses, and noticing responses. There is not a rule to follow or a list of boxes to check off when eating mindfully, it is an ongoing process and we refine it with practice. Eating mindfully is not something that can be done perfectly, and this gives us permission to give up our right/wrong thinking and rules. Mindful eating happens without conscious restraint and while unattached to distant outcomes like weight, size or shape, and is in stark contrast to messages that affront us daily.

I have found that undoing the years of negative messaging about food, size, and weight in order to eat mindfully has been one of the hardest paths I have followed, and well worth the effort. I invite you to join me on the journey of mindful eating, and to welcome the freedom that you have had all along to make food choices that will nourish you. I will help you discover your own path.